Dispensing cap with gripping means

ABSTRACT

A dispensing cap intended to equip a reservoir containing a liquid or viscous product includes a body provided with at least one dispensing opening and a lid articulated to the body around an axis. The lid is intended to stopper the dispensing opening in the storage position. The body and the lid are made of a rigid or semirigid material. At least one gripping zone is arranged on the lid and/or the body to facilitate the opening and/or closing of the lid, the gripping zone being formed by an elastomeric material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a dispensing cap intended for areservoir containing a fluid product to be dispensed, as well as adispensing unit equipped with this cap. More particularly, the presentinvention relates to a cap having an opening for dispensing a product,obturable by a pivoting lid. It is provided with a stoppering systemcapable of being opened for the dispensing of the product, and closedfor its preservation.

2. Description of the Related Art

Reservoirs fitted with a cap of this kind are customarily used indifferent fields for the storage and dispensing of liquid products, forexample, in the cosmetic, food, household, pharmaceutical orparapharmaceutical fields. These products may be, in particular,shampoos, antiseptics, household cleaning materials or dishwashingproducts. By use of a dispensing cap, it is possible to avoid leakage ofthe product during its carriage and storage and the product is protectedfrom external contamination. Moreover, with such a cap the user caneasily dispense the product contained in the reservoir.

A dispensing cap of this kind is described, for example, in EuropeanPatent Application EP-A-0 629 560. This document describes a dispensingcap having a dispensing opening and a lid pivotable by means of a filmhinge. This lid is provided with a stopper intended to stopper thedispensing opening in the storage position. On the side opposite to thehinge, the lid has a gripping projection situated opposite a recess inthe side wall of the cap. This projection has the drawback that there isthe risk of hurting the user's thumb, or of breaking his nail, when thelid is being opened. Moreover, the gripping zone is not always easy tolocate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to remedy thedrawbacks of the prior art, and to provide a dispensing cap of apleasing appearance whose cost is competitive and which is, moreover,very reliable in its stoppering action.

Moreover, it is a further object of the invention to provide a handy capthat is easy to open, where the gripping zone can be easily located andmanipulated by the user.

Thus a first aspect of the present invention provides a dispensing capintended for a reservoir containing a liquid or viscous product,comprising a body provided with at least one dispensing opening and alid articulated to the body round an axis, the lid being intended tostopper the dispensing opening in the storage position, the body and thelid being made of a rigid or semirigid material. At least one grippingzone is arranged on the lid and/or the body to facilitate the openingand/or closing of the lid, the gripping zone being formed by anelastomeric material.

The invention also relates to a dispensing cap wherein the elastomericmaterial is deposited by dual or duplicate injection moulding, on thebody and/or the lid made of a rigid material.

The invention also provides a dispensing unit comprising a productreservoir equipped with a dispensing cap according to the first aspectof the invention.

Generally, the reservoir equipped with such a cap is constituted by abottle of a rigid or semirigid consistency or by a compressible tube.Preferably, this reservoir has a neck whereon the dispensing cap isfixed by screwing, catch engagement, overmoulding, welding or any otherknown means.

The product to be dispensed is capable of flowing under its own weightand is, for example, a shampoo or a body lotion whose viscosity isgenerally in the range of from 50 mpa·s to 5 Pa·s, or a pulverulentpowder.

Generally the rigid or semirigid material is chosen from polypropylenesor polyethylenes. Advantageously, the elastomeric material is athermoplastic elastomer physically/chemically compatible with the rigidor semirigid material. Thus by first injecting the rigid or semirigidmaterial into the mould, and by subsequently adding the flexiblematerial in a duplicate injection moulding process, a bond is createdbetween the elastomeric material and the rigid or semirigid material.This thermoplastic elastomer is chosen, for example, from the group ofcopolymers of propylene/ethylene; polyether blocamides; polyvinyls;terpolymers of ethylene, of propylene and of a diene (EPDM); sequencedpolymers of styrene-butadiene (SBS); sequenced polymers ofstyrene-ethylene-butadiene (SEBS-SIS); thermoplastic polyurethanes; andmixtures of polypropylene with one of the following elastomers:sequenced polymers of styrene-ethylene-butadiene (SEBS-SIS), terpolymersof ethylene, of propylene and of a diene (EPDM), and sequenced polymersof styrene-butadiene (SBS).

The elastomeric material may have a color different from that of therigid or semirigid material. Thus the gripping zone or zones on the capcan be easily located by the user. Moreover, a pleasing decorativeeffect may be obtained by applying a color to the gripping zone. In anembodiment of the invention, the gripping zone arranged on the body isformed by a concave sunk portion in the form of a circular arc.

Preferably, the gripping zone may also be arranged on the lid at a placediametrically opposite the hinge. This zone is preferably formed by aconcave bent portion in the form of a hollow impression wherein theuser's finger comes to bear to raise the lid. A gripping zone can, ofcourse, be provided on the lid and on the cap body respectively.

By choosing a particular elastomeric material, for example, a mixture ofpolypropylene with terpolymers of ethylene, propylene and a diene(EPDM), it is even possible to obtain an “antislip” effect, which isadvantageous when the user uses a surfactant cleansing product in ashower or in the bath. Indeed, when the consumer uses a reservoir fittedwith a conventional dispensing cap made of polypropylene, in particularin a shower with his hands wetted by water or a shampoo, this cap has atendency to slide in his hands, making the opening of such a capdifficult to perform. Thanks to this feature of the invention, thesliding of the cap in the user's hands can be avoided.

Generally, the lid is provided with a stoppering plug intended tostopper the dispensing opening in the storage position. In this case, acovering made of a flexible elastomeric material can then be disposed onthe stopper or inside the opening to ensure a good seal between thestopper and the opening in the storage position. This makes it possibleto compensate for any possible play between the stopper and the opening,or for deformations of the stopper or the opening due to their removalfrom the mold. This covering moreover ensures a good seal over the wholeduration of use of the product.

Preferably, when the stopper is hollow and formed with a cylindricalskirt, it can be filled with a flexible material. This is advantageous,since any temporary trapping of product residues inside the stopper isavoided, which residues the risk of it flowing out inopportunely whenthe lid is being opened.

Moreover, the body of the cap may have an annular gasket made of aflexible material in a zone situated on the upper side opposite the lid,which gasket is in leakproof contact with a peripheral edge of the lidwhen the lid is in its folded-down position.

The lid is articulated to the cap by means of a hinge pivoting round anarticulation axis, for example, a film hinge. The cap of the inventionmay moreover have at least one connecting element overmolded in aflexible thermoplastic material and elastically deformable inelongation, forming a spring. One of the ends of the connecting elementis connected to the body, the other connected to the lid, the connectingelement being mounted in such a way as to be situated on one side of thearticulation axis in the open position, and on the other side of thearticulation axis, in the closed position of the lid, the connectingelement being subjected, when passing from one of the open and closedpositions to the other, to an elongation whose maximum is reached whenthe connecting element passes in the region of the articulation axis.Once the maximum elongation zone has been crossed, the lid is restoredeither into its open position or into its closed or partly closedposition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an axial sectional view of a reservoir provided with adispensing cap in accordance with the invention, in its open position;and

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the cap of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a dispensing unit comprising a reservoir 21having a longitudinal axis X is equipped with a dispensing cap 3provided with a body 32. The reservoir 21 has a closed bottom 22 and, atthe end opposite side to the bottom, a neck 2 provided with an externalthread 24 for fixing the cap body 32 on the reservoir. For this purpose,the cap body has an internal cylindrical skirt 25 provided with aninternal thread complementary to the thread 24 of the neck 2. Thereservoir 21 has a generally circular or oval cross-section, but thecross-section may be of any other shape, for example, polygonal orasymmetrical. It is made, for example, of high density polyethylene. Asfor the body of the cap, it is made of a rigid or semirigid material,such as polypropylene.

The body 32 of the cap 3 has a plate 34 provided at its circumferencewith a film hinge 8, by means of which a lid 5 is articulated to thecap, allowing the lid to pivot around an articulation axis A forming theaxis of the hinge. The lid 5 has a concave shape turned towards thereservoir and provided with a peripheral edge 51. A dispensing opening 4is provided in the plate 34 on the opposite side to the hinge 8 and in aplane passing through the hinge and through the longitudinal axis X ofthe reservoir 21. The opening 4 is defined by a cylindrical tube 41, 42extending to either side of the plate 34. An emergent portion 41 of thetube has an outwardly flaring conical internal shape. This tubeconstitutes a flow reducer, the emergent portion 41 having the functionof a spout.

The hinge 8 is formed of two parts 8a, 8b separated by a recess 8c. Twosmall bars 12, 13 with an orientation parallel to the articulation axisA pass through the recess. These bars 12, 13 are embedded in a flatstrip 10 made of an elastomeric material and form means for anchoringthe strip. The strip 10 forms an elastic connecting element between thelid 5 and the body 32. The ends of the strip 10 are respectively joinedto the body 32 of the cap and the lid 5 respectively, the attachment ofthis strip 10 to the body 32 and the lid 5 being obtained by thethermofusion of the respective materials during the manufacture of thecap 3. To further reinforce the strip 10, additional anchorage points 14may be provided on each portion adjoining the ends of the strip 10. Thisstrip 10 is disposed slightly beneath the articulation axis A of thehinge, that is, on the side towards the reservoir, so that in the fullyopen position the lid 5 is kept in this position by the elasticity ofthe flexible strip 10. When the lid 5 is closed, it pivots about theaxis A which causes the strip 10 to extend. When the lid reaches aposition of maximum extension of the strip 10, the elasticity of thestrip 10 restores the lid 5 into a partly open position. From the partlyopen position, the lid 5 can be closed completely by causing the stopper6 to frictionally enter to the opening 4. The flexible strip 10 is made,for example, of a mixture of polypropylene with a block polymer ofstyrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene.

In the folded-down position of the lid, the dispensing opening 4 isclosed by a stopper or stoppering element 6 obturating the tubularportion 41. This stopper 6 is hollow and carries an external covering 72made of a flexible material. The internal diameter of the tubularportion and the external diameter of the covering 72 are chosen in sucha way that when the lid is being closed the stopper 6 can enter withfriction into the opening 4 in a leakproof manner. Advantageously, thesediameters are of the order of 3 to 8 mm, depending on the viscosity ofthe product to be dispensed. This viscosity is typically in the rangeextending from 50 mPa·s to 5 Pa·s.

Of course, it is possible to make a reverse arrangement, that is to say,to dispose the covering 72 of a flexible material inside the opening 4.As may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inside 71 of the stopper 6 isfilled with a flexible material.

As illustrated in particular in FIG. 2, the plate 34 has at itscircumference an annular gasket 11 made of a flexible material. It isdisposed so that the edge 51 of the lid 5 bears against this gasket 11in the closed position of the cap.

On the opposite side to the hinge 8, the skirt 38 has a recessed zone95, for example in the form of a circular arc, facilitating the grippingand opening of the lid 5. The surface 96 of this zone is constituted bya layer of a flexible material. Similarly, the lid 5 has a gripping zone91 in the form of a concave bent portion 9, this zone also being formedof a flexible material such as an elastomer. The use of a flexiblematerial for the gripping zones provides the user with a pleasant feeland easy manipulation of the cap by choosing a particular flexiblematerial, for example, SANTOPRENE™ (a mixture of polypropylene withterpolymers of ethylene, propylene and a diene (EPDM)), marketed by theAES Company. By using a material of this type, it is even possible toobtain an “antislip” effect, which is advantageous when the user uses asurfactant body cleansing product in a shower or in the bath.

Advantageously, the color chosen for the flexible material is differentfrom that of the rigid or semirigid material. Thus the gripping zones91, 96 can be easily located by the user wishing to use the product.These colored zones may, moreover, constitute an aesthetic element andbe made in any varied shape.

The way of obtaining the cap in accordance with the invention is verysimple. Advantageously, the cap is manufactured in a single moldingcycle of short duration by the successive duplicate injection molding ofrigid or semirigid and elastomeric materials respectively. This cap canthen be manufactured at an advantageous cost.

Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the presentinvention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is thereforeto be understood that the invention may be practiced otherwise than asspecifically described herein.

1. A dispensing cap for a reservoir containing a liquid or viscousproduct, comprising: a rigid or semirigid body having at least onedispensing opening; a rigid or semirigid lid articulated to the bodyaround an articulation axis so as to stopper the dispensing opening in astorage position of the lid; and at least one connecting elementovermolded in a thermoplastic material, and elastically deformable inelongation along a length of the at least one connecting element to forma spring, one of the ends of the connecting element being connected tothe body, the other end being connected to the lid, and the connectingelement being mounted in such a way as to be situated on one side of thearticulation axis in an open position and on the other side of the axisin a closed position of the lid; and wherein when the connecting elementpasses from one of the positions to the other, the at least oneconnecting element is subjected to an elongation whose maximum isreached when connecting element passes in the region of the articulationaxis, wherein a gripping zone formed of an elastomeric material isarranged on at least one of the lid and the body to facilitate openingand closing of the lid.
 2. The cap according to claim 1, wherein therigid or semirigid material is chosen from the group consisting ofpolypropylenes and polyethylenes.
 3. The cap according to claim 1,wherein the elastomeric material is a thermoplastic elastomer compatiblewith the rigid or semirigid material so as to be capable of creating amechanical bond with the rigid or semirigid material by thermofusion. 4.The cap according to claim 1, wherein the elastomeric material has acolor different from that of the rigid or semirigid material.
 5. The capaccording to claim 1, wherein the elastomeric material is chosen fromthe group consisting of copolymers of propylene/ethylene; polyetherblocamides; polyvinyls; terpolymers of ethylene, propylene and of adiene (EPDM); sequenced polymers of styrene-butadiene (SBS); sequencedpolymers of styrene-ethylene-butadiene (SEBS-SIS); thermoplasticpolyurethanes; and mixtures of polypropylene with one of the followingelastomers: sequenced polymers of styrene-ethylene-butadiene (SEBS-SIS),terpolymers of ethylene, propylene and of a diene (EPDM), and sequencedpolymers of styrene-butadiene (SBS).
 6. The cap according to claim 1,wherein the lid includes a stoppering plug capable of stoppering thedispensing opening in the storage position, wherein a covering of anelastomeric material is situated on the stoppering plug or inside theopening to ensure the seal between the stoppering plug and the openingin the storage position.
 7. The cap according to claim 6, wherein thestoppering plug is filled with the elastomeric material.
 8. The capaccording to claim 1, wherein the body has the annular gasket made of anelastomeric material in leakproof contact with a peripheral edge of thelid when the lid is in its storage position.
 9. The cap according toclaim 1, wherein the lid is articulated on the body by means of a filmhinge.
 10. The cap according to claim 1, wherein the gripping zone isformed as a concave recessed portion in the form of a circular arc. 11.The cap according to claim 1, wherein the gripping zone is situateddiametrically opposite the hinge.
 12. The cap according to claim 1,wherein the gripping zone is formed by a concave bent portion of thelid.
 13. The dispensing cap according to claim 1, wherein theelastomeric material is deposited on the rigid or semirigid material byduplicate injection molding.
 14. A unit for dispensing a fluid product,comprising: a reservoir containing a fluid product; a cap comprising arigid or semirigid body having at least one dispensing opening, and arigid or semirigid lid articulated to the body around an articulationaxis so as to stopper the dispensing opening in a storage position ofthe lid, wherein a gripping zone formed of an elastomeric material isarranged on at least one of the lid and the body to facilitate openingand closing of the lid; and at least one connecting element overmoldedin a thermoplastic material, and elastically deformable in elongationalong a length of the at least one connecting element to form a spring,one of the ends of the connecting element being connected to the body,the other end being connected to the lid, and the connecting elementbeing mounted in such a way as to be situated on one side of thearticulation axis in an open position and on the other side of the axisin a closed position of the lid; and wherein when the connecting elementpasses from one of the positions to the other, the at least oneconnecting element is subjected to an elongation whose maximum isreached when connecting element passes in the region of the articulationaxis.
 15. A dispensing cap for a reservoir containing a liquid orviscous product comprising: a rigid or semirigid body having at leastone dispensing opening; a rigid or semirigid lid articulated to the bodyaround an articulation axis so as to stopper the dispensing opening in astorage position of the lid, the articulation is formed by a film hingeso that the body and the lid constitute one single piece, wherein agripping zone formed of a bi-injected elastomer material is arranged onat least one of the lid and the body to facilitate opening and closingof the lid, wherein said body comprises a skirt with a recessed portion,and said gripping zone is arranged on said recessed portion.
 16. The capaccording to claim 15, wherein the elastomeric material is athermoplastic elastomer compatible with the rigid or semirigid materialso as to be capable of creating a mechanical bond with the rigid orsemirigid material by thermofusion.
 17. The cap according to claim 15,wherein the elastomeric material has a color different from that of therigid or semirigid material.
 18. The dispensing cap according to claim15, wherein the elastomeric material is deposited on the rigid orsemirigid material by duplicate injection molding.
 19. The dispensingcap according to claim 15, wherein said lid comprises a lid grippingzone.
 20. The dispensing cap according to claim 19, wherein said lidgripping zone is arranged above said gripping zone on said skirt whensaid lid is in said storage position.
 21. The dispensing cap accordingto claim 19, wherein said lid gripping zone is formed in a concaveportion of said lid.
 22. The dispensing cap according to claim 15,further comprising an elastic strip having one end connected to said lidand another end connected to said body, wherein said elastic strippasses through an elongation maximum when said lid moves from an openposition to said storage position.
 23. The dispensing cap according toclaim 15, wherein said lid comprises a stopper which enters into saiddispensing opening when said lid moves to said storage position.
 24. Thedispensing cap according to claim 23, wherein said stopper is coveredwith a flexible material so that said stopper enters said dispensingopening with friction when said lid is placed in said position.
 25. Thedispensing cap according to claim 23, wherein said dispensing opening isformed in a tubular portion covered with a flexible material so thatsaid stopper enters said dispensing opening with friction when said lidis placed in said storage position.
 26. The dispensing cap according toclaim 23, wherein said stopper is hollow and filled with a flexiblematerial.